Unlike the carnivorous snipe, the elusive South American strackalaka prefers leaves and grass--at least that's what they want you to believe before devouring your children whole.

Compound-Complex: As the name implies a compound-complex sentence combines a complex sentence with a simple sentence.

With the proliferation of cell phones, teenagers throughout the country can text fellow students instantly, and teachers can take the phone away instantly as well.

Important Tips

Put the subject close to the beginning of the sentence: Writers often bury the subject behind a lengthy clause, rendering the subject punchless. Obviously, there are times when the writer intends to highlight something other than the subject. It should, however, be done sparingly.

Ineffective: Hurt more by the betrayal of his noble friend Brutus than by the shaky knife thrusts of Casca, Cassius, and Decius, Caesar collapsed and died.

Effective: Caesar collapsed and died, hurt more by the betrayal of his noble friend Brutus than by the shaky knife thrusts of Casca, Cassius, and Decius.

Vary sentence length. Teach students how to combine sentences. Varying sentence lengths adds emphasis where the writer wants it. Experiment. You'll discover a short sentence in between two long sentences makes more of an impact, for example.

Lesson Plans for Writing Good Sentences

Choose a paragraph to analyze. It could be from a published work or from something written in class.